Celestial Rain
by Crimson Elemental Alchemist
Summary: In their endless search for Paradise, Cheza and the wolves discover an abandoned lab. They decide to take refuge within it for the night, but they never expected to find someone already occupying it...and half-dead, too... ToboexOc HigexBlue KibaxCheza
1. Tears of the Moon

_Disclaimer: I do now own _Wolf's Rain_. Oops! Typo, sorry. I mean: I do _not_ own _Wolf's Rain_! But I do own Raene._

_Crimson: . . . I'm brain-dead, sorry. Please read on._

* * *

**Chapter One–**

**Tears of the Moon**

**O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O**

Red eyes shone in the inky darkness of the lonely cell. Chains could be heard clanking against the floor as its sole occupant changed position. The two guards at the door shivered involuntarily at the rare signs of life within the shadowy confines of the laboratory's basement. They hated being stationed here.

"When do they plan to kill that thing?" one asked his comrade, not daring to look into the cell lest he see the demonic red gaze. His gloved fingers clenched tighter onto the hilt of his sword.

"I doubt if they are going to kill it," the other replied, glancing curiously in the direction of the "monster". He smirked at it before turning away once more from the windowless cell. "And if they ever want to get rid of it, I'll gladly take it off their hands," he said in a husky tone. His companion looked at him as if he was crazy before shaking his head in apparent displeasure.

A sudden loud boom from the floor above had both of the guards raising their heads in attention.

"What the hell?" the shorter of the two hissed out, drawing his sword as he took a step toward the staircase. A gunshot ran out in the stale air as soon as he set his foot down on the first stone step. The man hesitated a moment before he ran the rest of the way to the first floor to help fight.

"Shit!" the second man muttered before withdrawing his revolver from his belt and taking off after his companion. As soon as he got to the first step of the stairwell, however, he quickly turned around at the last minute and shot into the darkness of the cell. Praying that he had hit the prisoner so as to not leave any evidence behind, the man quickly raced up the stairs.

**.::Raene's Pov::.**

A searing pain shot through my body, but it was nothing I hadn't felt before. The usual tears came to my eyes, unbidden and unwanted. I could only crumple to the floor as the bullet pierced my left shoulder. It had hit far too close to my heart than I would have liked. Bright-red blood began to pool beneath me as it gushed from the rather small wound. I didn't even bother to try and hold it in.

My teeth sunk into my lower lip, piercing my skin and making more blood drip down my chin. I wanted to howl at the pain my body felt and at the hollowness that I sensed inside. I had been a prisoner of these _humans _for much too long. I wanted to scream until my throat bled, but I held it all in just like I always had. No cries would slip past my lips, no threats, no whining, and certainly no words of kindness. Nothing. Even if I remembered how to speak, I would not say anything. I would never forgive these _people _for what they had done to me . . . .

"Hey, are you all right?" a boy's voice asked. The words were gentle and sincere, but I almost laughed outright at them. I looked up only to find something I never expected to see . . . .

**.::Normal POV::.**

"Hey, are you all right?" Toboe asked, wolf eyes able to make out the form of a young girl lying on her side in the cell. He pressed his face as close to the bars as he could as he tried to get a better glimpse of the girl's injury. The metallic scent of blood permeated the air and he began to worry, especially so when he didn't receive a response to his query.

The girl trapped behind those bars and smothered in darkness rose her head a fraction off the ground. It was all the strength she could muster, but the young wolf saw it.

"Hold on!" he encouraged her. "I'll go get help!" The boy leapt up suddenly and ran back up the staircase from which he came. The girl watched him with her red eyes that had grown accustomed to the darkness.

Silence grew thick inside her prison cell as she waited (it wasn't as if she had much of a choice). The darkness–at one time so comforting and protective–seemed to suffocate her now. She felt a craving for something else, for something brighter. Somehow she knew that what she craved waited outside this cell.

"Come on, girlie," a man's deep voice sounded in her ears. The next thing she knew, a pair of well-muscled arms picked her immobile body up off the floor. Her nose picked up the strong scent of wolf as she was carried up the stairs. She tried to open her eyes but the drugs still in her system weighed her eyelids down just like the chains clasped onto her ankles weighed down her legs.

"Man, she looks half-dead," another male's voice remarked. One of the girl's fingers twitched involuntarily. She knew what she must look like to them: small, weak, and malnourished.

"You don't think she won't make it, do you?" the voice from earlier asked, worry, once again, in his tone.

The girl felt that familiar edge of bitterness enter her heart at the comments on her physical weakness. A sudden gust of wind brushed her thigh-length silky hair over her face, and the irritation disappeared to be replaced with awe. A gentle, bluish light fell over her closed eyelids, banishing the remnants of drugs within her system. A strange, yearning feeling she couldn't understand welled within her until she could barely contain it. She shivered at the power that filled her entire being and finally opened her eyes.

"Hey, she's awake!" one of the males said. He had short, light-brown hair and golden eyes. "Whoa. Her eyes are blood-red . . . ."

"Oh. You're right," the first boy she met said. Now that she could see him better, the girl noticed that he had red hair. His eyes were golden as well. He smiled at her when he noticed her watching him. "They are pretty though."

"Well, I guess we should have known that was coming. She has white hair after all," the one who carried her commented. His hair was a light-grey and he had dark skin. Golden eyes looked down coldly at her.

"And her scent is similar to Cheza's," another pointed out. Looking at the speaker, the girl took note of his dark hair and golden eyes. Next to him, stood two females. One with blue eyes and short, black hair. The other had red eyes and short, lavender hair.

Her eyes focused on this second girl, amazed with her. Their eyes may have had the same color, but they were still different. Whereas the strange girl had red all over (including the whites) the eye, the silver-haired girl just had red irises and slit, black pupils. The lavender-haired girl's clothing was strange, too. The light-colored cloth fit her form perfectly, revealing every curve of her body. Well, it would have if she hadn't donned that red tunic over it.

The girl looked down at her own meager clothes, suddenly curious. She had been stuffed away in that awful place for as long as she could remember so fashion was never something she had to worry about. She wore what looked like a plain black dress cinched off at the waist with a scarlet cord. The dress covered her entire torso, even coming up to her neck (think "sleeveless turtleneck"). It stopped short of her knees, revealing the white skin of fragile-looking legs. The only things she wore on her feet were the chains that had kept her immobile inside that cell for all those years.

"First thing's first. We get rid of these things," the one holding her declared, amber eyes focused on the heavy links. He gently set her down on the bare earth as the members of his pack gathered around them. The girl fidgeted uncomfortably at their closeness, knowing them to be wolves but still seeing their human forms. She blocked out the dark memories, knowing she could do nothing at the moment.

"You guys, we're scaring her," the one with red hair said. He seemed to be the only one keeping a close watch on the girl. He moved forward cautiously, getting on all fours (hands and knees) to be at eye-level with the shivering girl. "My name's 'Toboe'," he introduced himself, grinning kindly at her. "These are my friends. We want to help you." Perhaps he thought that by talking to her a little bit, it would calm her down enough for them to get the chains off her feet and the bullet out of her shoulder. His pack members caught on rather quickly and quietly began to work on getting the job done while their youngest wolf distracted the girl.

"And just for clarification: I'm Hige," the boy with light-brown hair said, also smiling at her. He moved to help the dark-haired male with the bullet as he dug into the wound with a dagger he had found lying around somewhere.

The girl only flinched at the sharp pain that flared up at the insertion of the blade. She tried her best not to let her tears fall.

"I'm Kiba," the man working on removing the bullet from her body said coolly. He didn't even meet her eyes, keeping them, instead, on his work.

"My name's Blue and that guy's Tsume," the dark-haired woman introduced herself and then the man with dark skin and light-colored hair. Tsume growled aloud at being called "that man". Blue just chuckled at him before diving at the chains on the girl's feet and breaking them apart with her teeth.

"And I am Cheza," the girl with red eyes and lavender hair spoke up. She moved towards the injured girl then sat on the ground next to her. "You can not speak, can you?" Cheza asked her, watching the girl with unseeing eyes. As the girl shook her head in the negative, Cheza leaned forward. Her forehead touched the girl's and she closed her eyes. "What is your name?" she whispered. The girl just stared at her, not comprehending. A few minutes passed that way–the wolves looking on in wonderment–before the injured girl let out a sigh and closed her own red eyes.

_'I have no name,'_ she thought, allowing Cheza to make a connection with her mind.

Cheza opened her eyes but did not move away.

_'Did you know I could mind-speak with you, Flower-Maiden?' _the girl asked in her thoughts.

That caused Cheza to let out a small gasp of surprise, and she leaned back. "You know what I am?" she asked the girl. The girl nodded slowly, watching the flower curiously.

_'I learned of your creation a long time ago,' _she mind-spoke to Cheza. _'But that is all I know. I don't understand what I am, but your scent is similar to mine. Do you know my name?'_ Her red gaze stared at the flower-maiden pleadingly. Her body tensed in anticipation but dropped at Cheza's shaking head.

"This one does not know your name," Cheza admitted. She caught the sad look on the other girl's face. "But we can give you a name if you want it." She smiled kindly at the girl who sat in front of her with a confused look on her face.

The girl finally nodded in acceptance to the offer. Cheza and the wolves grinned.

"How about 'Raene'?" Toboe volunteered, looking around at everyone for approval.

"What? Seriously?" Hige scoffed. "Sounds a little weird if you ask me. What about 'Ruby'? Her eyes _are_ red, after all."

"Tch. 'Ruby' sounds like a prostitute's name, Chubby," Tsume mocked, removing the last of the chains from the girl's ankles. "I like Toboe's name better."

"Well, excuse me, Mr. High-and-Mighty," Hige jeered. "I didn't know how much you cared about her."

"Why you little–" Tsume started but got cut off by Kiba's words.

"That's enough you two. It's up to the girl anyway," Kiba reminded the two.

They all looked at the girl who stared blankly back at them.

"So . . ." Toboe began, "what do you think of the name 'Raene'? Do you like it?" He sounded so hopeful that the girl felt that she couldn't say no even if she wanted to. She nodded her head "yes" in answer and received a suffocating hug in return. Raene blushed at the intimate contact.

"That's great!" the boy exclaimed, continuing to cling to the girl. Even in his excitement, he, thankfully, minded the now-bandaged shoulder.

"Hm . . . well, looks like we found a mate for Toboe," Hige muttered just loud enough for the entire pack to hear. Everyone but Toboe either smiled or giggled. Toboe blushed scarlet at the remark and immediately detached himself from the white-haired girl. Raene also blushed but hid her embarrassment behind a curtain of white hair.

"So this must mean that we have a new member in the pack, right?" Hige asked, directing his question mostly at Kiba.

"About time, too," Blue remarked, helping Raene to her feet. "We needed a couple more girls in the pack to even things out." She winked at Cheza and Raene. The males simply rolled their eyes.

"We better find another place to sleep for the rest of the night," Kiba announced, already moving out. Fortunately, he kept his place slow for the sake of the injured girl.

"Well, we can't take all night to get there," Tsume growled out, getting fed up with the slow pace. Once again, he swept the girl up and carried her bridal-style. "Let's go." And with that, the pack sped off in search of a safe place to sleep that wasn't crawling with lab scientists and their bodyguards.

Raene, too tired to think of all the events that had taken place that night, looked up and froze. There, far above her, hung the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

The moon.

The silver orb bathed the land and them in a comforting blue light. It filled her with joy, contentment, and power. The hole of despair and loneliness deep within her began to shrink as she continued to stare at the full moon. Although she fought to keep them open, her eyes slowly closed. The last thing she saw before she fell into a deep sleep was a strange structure that consisted of two vertical posts and two horizontal beams connecting them at the top. The whole thing shone red (literally, _shone_ red). It looked like it was glowing. The moon stood guard behind it, also colored a deep red. Raene couldn't make sense of it at all, and soon it wouldn't matter because she would forget all about it by the time she awoke the next day.


	2. Shattered Trust & Broken Bonds

_Disclaimer: I do not own _Wolf's Rain_. _

_Crimson: I'm sleepy! I want Christmas Break to come now!_

_Tsume: Stop whining! It's getting on my nerves._

_Toboe: Why are you sleepy, Crimson?_

_Crimson: . . ._

_Tsume: It's because you've been writing stories, isn't it? So, it's your own damn fault._

_Crimson: Shut up!_

_Toboe: Eh? Calm down?_

_Tsume: Little brat!_

_Toboe: Tsume?_

_Crimson: Dog breath!_

_Toboe: Crimson?_

_Tsume & Crimson: WHAT?!_

_Toboe: . . . um . . . shouldn't they start reading now?_

_Crimson: Oops . . . ._

* * *

**Chapter Two–**

**Shattered Trust & Broken Bonds**

**O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O**

Raene opened her red eyes and the first thing she saw was Cheza's gentle face hovering over her. She blinked slowly, not fully comprehending what had happened the night before, thinking it had only been a dream. As she tried to sit up–eyes still glued to Cheza's red gaze–she discovered how her arms buckled beneath her. She was still too weak to move and the sudden flare of pain in her shoulder reminded her of the injury she had sustained the day before. All of the memories bombarded her at once, and she let out an involuntary growl at them.

"You shouldn't move around too much," a feminine voice reprimanded. Raene craned her neck in Cheza's lap to identify the speaker as Blue, the half she-wolf.

"Which means that we won't be going anywhere for some time," Tsume growled out, obviously not happy about the situation despite his help the night before. His golden eyes glared at the dirt floor of the cave as he sat on one of the large boulders.

"Don't be such a pain, Tsume," Blue demanded, glowering at the gray wolf. "Hige and Toboe should be back from the town soon. And Kiba will be back later with something to eat. If his hunt went well, that is." She moved closer to Cheza and Raene, holding a wet cloth in her hand. "You're pretty dirty, girly," she remarked, wiping some dirt off Raene's face.

"Oh, come on, Blue. You cleaned her enough last night," Hige's voice came floating into the cave, followed soon after by Hige himself. He held some sort of black cloth in his arms along with a roll of white bandages.

"Is she awake now?" Toboe asked as he came in a few seconds after Hige. In his arms, Toboe carried a pair of black, leather boots that matched his own and some strips of the same black material that Hige had in his hands. "We brought some things that we thought she could use," Toboe explained, seeing the questioning glance Blue gave him.

The red-colored wolf made his way over to the three girls. He set the boots in front of the newest female nervously, vividly remembering how Cheza had rejected his gift in the past. He hoped the incident wouldn't repeat itself.

"These boots are for you, Raene," he clarified before kneeling next to her. Toboe took one of the two black strips and gently began to wind it around the girl's left ankle. The metal cuff had been removed while she had slept, but the skin still showed signs that it had obviously been there. A wide ring of scraped skin–no longer bleeding, thankfully–encircled both of her ankles. It didn't surprise her really–she had strained against those restricting chains for years and the metal had cut deeply into her skin on more than one occasion.

Toboe finished wrapping the one piece and proceeded to do the next, talking as he went, "I figured that this would help a little bit with the pain. At least it'll keep the dirt out of it while it heals." He finished tying off the final strip before daring to look up at Raene's face. He almost let out a pleading whine when he saw an unreadable expression in her red eyes. "What's wrong? Don't you like it?"

Raene, startled out of her thoughts about the odd bindings, glanced over to the reddish-brown wolf before slowly nodding her head. She was suddenly taken aback by the happy grin the pup gave her then. The white-haired girl cocked her head at that, curious about the expression. She'd never seen that before . . . .

"What about the shoes, Raene?" Hige asked from her other side, patiently waiting for his turn to present her with the goodies he had found. He caught the questioning look she gave him when he had mentioned the word "shoes" and found himself wondering if she even knew what they were.

Raene moved her eyes to the items that Toboe had set down earlier. He had called them "boots", hadn't he? She flicked a glance at the young wolf, remembering that he had worn similar things on his feet. Were they meant to protect the feet, then? From the cold? Or the environment? Well, she didn't really know since she had never needed something like that where the wolves had found her. And she had no recollection of her life before then so . . . .

Her pale-white fingers ran down the side of one of the boots, feeling the cool and smooth surface. Red eyes narrowed in contemplation as she let her touch linger on the two-inch heel of the shoe. Thinking about the pieces of cloth that Toboe had just wrapped around her feet, Raene moved her attention to them instead. Her hand moved down the ankle-high, black "bandage", clutching the arch of her foot where the wolf pup had looped some of the strip around. Looking back to Hige, Raene shook her head in a way to say that she did not want the boots. She didn't need them anyway, and she didn't want to conceal the gift that Toboe, himself, had wrapped around her feet. A fondness for the one that had saved her grew in her chest despite her resistance for such feelings.

Toboe grew worried, knowing that the road they had to take would be rough and a human's feet would get torn up in no time. Still, he had felt happy when she had looked lovingly at the cloth strips he had wrapped around her feet. Oh well, maybe Tsume would carry her if things got too rough . . . .

"Well, it's probably for the best," Hige admitted, walking behind Raene. "If she had those shoes on, then they'd make her wounds worse and she wouldn't be able to even walk." He dumped the clothes he had been carrying over an unsuspecting Raene. Raene peeked out from under the black mass only to give an annoyed look to Hige before she could stop herself. The chubby wolf only chuckled before giving an explanation, "I'm no fashion expert, but I think these clothes would look better on you then that." He pointed at "that"–the too-large black tunic that hung on Raene's frame.

Raene pulled the material off her head, not bothering to retaliate at Hige's remark on her state of dress. She held up what looked to be a black dress with a silver dragon design down the front torso. The sleeves themselves actually started below the shoulder and were attached to the dress only by twin silver clasps with what looked to be crescent moon symbols on them. At the collar there was a black choker that went around the neck to hold the dress in place, but the neckline itself started just below the collar bone (or so Raene surmised). Wrapped around the waist was a silver cord, much like the red cord that Raene currently had on but nowhere near as beat up. The skirt of the dress had only one layer to it and looked like it would barely reach her mid-thigh, but there was a pair of black shorts beneath it.

"Change quick before Kiba gets back," Hige called as he shoved a naive Toboe out of the cave. Tsume followed close behind them, but only because Blue had glared at him. Raene watched the three males leaves briefly before awkwardly trying to get out of the clothing she had on.

"We'll help you," Blue laughed when Raene had successfully gotten her head and arms tangled in the worn, black dress. The she-wolf carefully disentangled the girl from the dirty piece of clothing, tossing it carelessly to the side. When she turned her blue eyes back to the now-nude girl, she had to stifle a gasp at the amount of old wounds she saw there. Scars–some fading to almost nothing while others were just healing over–riddled the girl's skin. Her entire back held telltale signs of beatings from whips. Meanwhile, her chest and stomach held even nastier scars that told of deep gashes from knives or swords. The half-wolf had to bite back a nasty growl at the people who had done this to her.

Reaching for the white bandages that Hige had left, Blue kept her mind concentrated on the girl's most-recent injury–the gunshot wound. It had stopped bleeding the night before, but it looked like the girl's quick movements when she had woken up had reopened the wound a bit so it had begun to seep out some more of the crimson liquid. Blue wrapped the white cloth around the girl's shoulder slowly so as to not frighten the abused child. She let her thoughts drift off to minor details about their newest recruitment to the pack. Things such as age and nourishment fluttered through her mind. The girl looked to be about fifteen years old which was Toboe's age.

A grin slipped onto Blue's face when she thought about the youngest of the wolves. He seemed to be getting along with their new comrade amazingly well. Of course, that didn't necessarily mean much considering how kind-hearted and social the pup was, but, still, it was interesting . . . .

"This one wonders how you got hurt, Sister," Cheza's voice interrupted Blue's thoughts. The she-wolf turned to look questionably at the flower maiden before realizing that she must have been mind-speaking with the girl.

It had surprised them all when Cheza had informed them of the stranger's ability to speak mind-to-mind with her. Cheza, herself, didn't know how it was possible but didn't put much more thought into it. It had shocked the pack even more when their flower maiden began to refer to the girl as "Sister". No one understood why she had begun to call Raene that and, when confronted about it, she simply said that she felt connected with the girl in some way.

_**'I don't remember,'**_ Raene responded to the flower maiden. It was a lie and she knew it. She also knew that Cheza would see right through it, but she couldn't trust these people. Not yet. She didn't know if she ever could. She was suddenly pulled out of her thoughts by someone embracing her.

"No one will ever hurt Sister again," Cheza breathed out as she hugged Raene, determination in every word.

Raene didn't know how to respond to that so she simply let herself be hugged. It felt rather nice to be touched and _not _hurt. She could get used to this kind of contact. Cheza's scent nearly overwhelmed her. It was so much stronger than her own and made her heart warm up instantly in her chest. Before she realized it, Raene was leaning into Cheza, resting her forehead on the girl's shoulder. Her white hair moved with her, curtaining most of her naked body as she breathed in more of the lunar flower's intoxicating smell. It was funny, but the girl could swear that she had smelled this exact scent before.

"Better hurry up and get dressed, Raene," Blue reminded the girl, placing a gentle hand on her uninjured shoulder. She had finished bandaging the injury before the hug so all that was left now was to get the girl dressed.

Easier said than done.

After about ten minutes of clasps, ties, and hair entanglement, Raene had finally managed to get dressed (with Blue's help, of course). By that time, Kiba had finished up with his hunt and entered the cave. Tsume, Hige, and Toboe trailed behind him, all wondering how long it took for a girl to get dressed.

"Wow!" Hige exclaimed as soon as he spotted Raene. He gave her a thumbs-up and grinned. "You look great in that! Right, Kiba?" He glanced at Kiba who simply nodded his approval before moving farther into the cave with the doe he had managed to take down. Hige rolled his eyes at him.

"You look really pretty, Raene!" Toboe praised, admiring the way her hair fell about her bare shoulders and all the way down past her hips. He blushed when he realized that he had been staring. "Doesn't she look pretty, Tsume?" the pup asked his elder, trying to pretend that he hadn't been gaping at the girl.

"Hmph," Tsume shrugged, obviously in a bad mood. "He only spared Raene a quick, scathing glance before turning his back on her and heading towards dinner.

"Sorry, he doesn't like strangers very much," Toboe apologized, rubbing the back of his head as he came up to Raene. He held out his hand to the girl. She blinked at it, not knowing what to do. The pup finally gave her another smile before grabbing her hand in his and walking her towards the feast where the others had already gathered at. "You're hungry, right? You look like you haven't eaten in days." As he said this, Toboe's eyes traveled down to Raene's extremely-thin midsection.

"Better dig in before Chubby here eats it all," Blue advised nonchalantly, tearing off a piece of thigh meat. The "Chubby" she referred to responded with an offended "Hey!", mouth full of deer meat. Toboe chuckled at the couples' antics.

"Well?" Toboe turned back to Raene, but found that she wasn't looking at them. Her red gaze focused on Cheza who stood a few feet off, bathing in what little sunlight actually came into the cave.

"Cheza doesn't eat meat," Kiba explained, thinking that was the reason Raene wasn't eating. "She 'eats' sunlight and drinks water. Like all plants do."

Raene didn't even spare him a glance. All her attention was on the flower maiden. She had some questions for her "sister". Her hand slipped from Toboe's grasp as she moved towards Cheza. She ignored the wolves' stares as she sat down next to the purple-haired girl. Her red eyes blinked rapidly a few times and began to water at the brightness they were not accustomed to. When she finally adjusted to the sunlight, Raene turned her head to Cheza and mind-spoke with her.

_**'What is 'food'?' **_she asked, confusion clearly written on her face. That broke Cheza's serene appearance. The flower maiden turned a slightly-baffled expression to Raene. _**'I don't think I have ever had it,' **_Raene continued. _**'At least, not when I was with **_**them**_**.' **_The "them" she referred to was everyone in that damn laboratory.

"Sister has never ate food?" Cheza questioned in an amazed tone. Even _she_ could not survive without her sunlight, moonlight, or water. At Raene's shaking head, Cheza glanced at her wolves who looked just as or more surprised than she was.

"No food?" Tsume asked aloud. His eyes narrowed.

"Raene," Toboe began, "how can you be alive without food?" He was starting to get nervous. The look in Tsume's eyes was turning darker by the second. Something bad was going to happen soon. He just knew it.

"What did you use as nourishment?" Kiba asked instead, deciding to take a different route. If she didn't understand "food", then maybe a word that those scientists used would sink in. It was worth a try, wasn't it?

Raene immediately turned back to Cheza, red eyes wide. _**'Is that the same then? I was giving injections for 'nourishment','**_ she relayed to Cheza who, in turn, told the others. Raene's thoughts turned to something else that they had done to her on a regular basis in the past. She wondered if that would be important . . . .

"'Injections'?" Kiba repeated. "So, needles?" He didn't know what to say to that. The thought that any human being would do that to another was mind-blowing. But, then again, these were _humans_, after all . . . .

"Tch. So she's basically just a lab rat, huh?" Tsume growled, glaring at the girl. Raene flinched at the dark tone in his voice. "And here I thought she might not be human. Heh," Tsume laughed. It all made sense now–this girl's red eyes and white hair. They were the result of human experiments . . . on a human! His growl grew louder and more fierce, scaring the girl because it reminded her of something in the lab. Something she hated and feared most of all . . . .

"Why should we let a _human_ stay with us?!" Tsume snarled. His feelings about humans had just gotten worse since their last stop in one particular town. Back at that run-down laboratory, he had only helped her because she had smelled like Cheza! And Toboe had begged and pleaded with him. But if he had done all that for a _human_?! . . . No. There's no way he'd let that _thing_ stay!

Tsume leapt at Raene, dropping his human illusion. No one could stop him in time as the gray's teeth aimed for the girl's exposed throat. Raene saw her danger, turned, and ran, surprising them all with her speed.

She's faster than a wolf . . . .


End file.
